Bernie Sanders on the EPEC Sale

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and two other United States senators want two federal agencies to hold hearings on the pending El Paso Electric sale to clarify the buyer’s ties to JPMorgan Chase.

Vermont Sen. Sanders, and Democratic senators Jeffrey Merkley, of Oregon, and Edward Markey, of Massachusetts, sent letters March 10 to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC.

The two letters, signed jointly by the three senators, state that the agencies need to hold evidentiary hearings to “correct the record as to the true ownership and control over IIF,” or Infrastructure Investments Fund, which is in the final stages of completing its purchase of the 117-year-old utility.

Wow, that’s kind of big local story, right?

A presidential candidate weighing in on a controversial local issue in the middle of a campaign?

Front page news? At least a prominent place on the paper’s website, right?

Nope. It’s not listed at all on elpasotimes.com. I found it because my wife opted for dead-tree delivery.

In the print edition, the story appears on page 8A, right under the teevee listings.